When did you realise you wanted to become a winemaker?
My father introduced me to wine when I was five, and since then I have always liked wine. I am also a geologist so going out for dinner with colleagues was related to having and enjoying great bottles of wine. I bought the vineyard in 2002 as a way of diversifying away from geology, since then I have developed the business by upgrading the cellar door and building a “state-of-the art” winery in 2007. The winery was set -up to produce many small batches of high-quality wine.

Please tell us about your career so far, including your education, work experience etc.
I have a PhD in regional and structural geology. I specialised in the geology of SE Spain and earthquakes. After graduating I started working for oil companies. I also have a love of travel and seeing other cultures, so I used geology to travel to over 100 countries. The interesting side to this travel addiction was that wherever I went looking at rocks, there was always a vineyard nearby where I could go and sample the local wines. I learnt winemaking, viticulture and sales from talking with the amazing staff that I have in the Rockcliffe business.

What do you love most about being a winemaker?
The best thing about working with Rockcliffe is meeting people. I love the diversity of the people that visit. I love taking them on tours through the vineyard and winery, it is such good fun and a great laugh.

What is your favourite wine, and what food do you typically pair it with?
My favourite wine is the sparkling wine because this was the wine type that I was brought up on by my father. Our “Methode Traditionelle” is made in the same way as Champagne and from both chardonnay and pinot grapes. I can drink this wine at any time of the day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and as a nightcap. I also love our chardonnay which comes off our Denmark Vineyard and the malbec and mourvèdre, which are so different to the more normal shiraz and cabernet – they are so refreshing.

Is there a specific process you follow when developing a new wine?
The most impressive winemaking process is that of carbonic maceration. We use this to make our chilled red. In France, this process is used to make Beaujolais nouveau from gamay grapes. In Rockcliffe’s case we use either shiraz or zinfandel when these grapes can be hand-picked and delivered direct to the winery, so they can be processed using whole bunch fermentation methods. It is amazing to eat whole grapes that have a burst of alcohol when you bit into them. The wine is drunk chilled in Australia, but it doesn’t have to be. Beaujolais nouveau is drunk at room temperature in Europe.

Is there any vintage you’re particularly proud of creating? Why?
The best vintage in the Great Southern was the 2018. All grapes were of the highest quality. Rockcliffe took the decision to buy as many tonnes of the grapes from this vintage as we could afford. We still have a lot of the 2018 reds left at the winery.